Camicazi was standing atop Sparky's back as they approached Berk. "Come on boy, they'll kill me if I'm late. Land in the forest edge so I can act like I wasn't out flying!" Normally she wouldn't care, but she ought to make an effort. The Meatheads were one of their strongest allies and she did like them. She got on well with Thuggory Junior, but he got his moments. The older they got, the more so. As the boys grew older, they grew more interested in girls. As in going out, kissing... and may the gods spare her, marriage contracts. Camicazi had no interest in that. But Thuggory had been showing more interest in her than she was overly thrilled about. She liked him, but she wasn't interested in a romantic relationship with him. "Sparky, down now!" She called. She could see the ships had already docked. She was dead.
"You knew this would happen sooner or later." Astrid said. Thuggory and his son were catching up with Gobber and Valka. Hiccup frowned.
"Doesn't mean I like it."
"I can see that. She's growing up though Hiccup. She's seventeen in a week. Your mother was married to your father by her age."
"And you and I were not married until we were twenty."
"Hiccup... She can't stay your little girl forever."
"I know that but," Hiccup sighed "It feels like yesterday she got here. I'm just not ready to let her go yet."
"No more am I. But Thuggory is a good man..." She said slowly.
"You aren't sure about this either."
"I just know if you'd tried something like this I'd have been furious."
"Yeah I know that. Not that I could've, but I'd always have asked you directly. It's your choice in my opinion."
"And I think that's the problem. They're doing things the old way. I doubt highly she'll appreciate that."
"She's my little girl. My baby girl." He said looking at Astrid almost pleadingly.
"I know babe, I know." Thuggory and his son returned to them.
"So, what do you say? Shall we draw up a contract for..."
Camicazi landed swiftly, leaping from Sparky's back having tugged her skirt on whilst still airborne. "I'll see you back at the house! Be good boy!" She called as she ran as fast as her legs would carry her towards the village. She cursed as she spotted her parents talking with Thuggory and his dad. She was already late. She ran still faster, skidding to a halt in front of her mother, crashing into her father's back.
"I'm here! I'm here! Hi, it's great to see you both. Sorry I'm late I was just helping with... Oh screw this, I was out flying with Sparky. Sorry, I totally forgot!" She grinned, flicking her braid back over her shoulder. "What you guys talking about?" She asked looking at her parents' less than ecstatic faces and the grin on both the Thuggorys' faces.
"Cami..."
"No! No! I will not accept this!" She yelled as her father led her into the house where they were less likely to be overheard. He stood in front of the door to stop her running out and flying off.
"Cami, no one is saying you have to. They were just asking about..."
"No... NO! They were asking you! They were not asking about! They were not going to ask me what I thought! I was going to be sold like a fish or a yak!" She shrieked
"Camicazi, you think I would just sell you off?!"
"I didn't think so but now..."
"I would not have. I was going to tell them, before you came over, they'd have to take it up with you. It was not my place to make that decision for you."
"You think I should though don't you?"
"I don't know Camicazi! The first time I saw my little girl she was thirteen years old. My baby was taken from me and I finally saw her and she was nearly grown up. I don't want to consider you growing up any more than I want to consider that Finn is."
"But you think it would be wise... 'unity of the tribes' he said." She spat bitterly.
"Cami, no one is forcing you to..."
"I cannot and will not be bought! And Berk is my home!" She yelled, running up the stairs and out of the sky window. Hiccup tried to run after her, but he heard Sparky call and knew she'd gone.
"Don't, just give her a bit of space." Astrid said taking hold of his arm. "It's a lot to take in."
Camicazi was glaring at the clouds as they unfurled beneath her like some great blanket. She continued staring her death glare at them for a minute before yelling in frustration and punching the air with her fists before laying down on Sparky's back. Sparky gave a rumble of concern at her obvious frustration.
"Don't worry boy, I'm not letting anyone take me away from you." She assured him, patting his neck. "I promise." She sighed as she sat up again looking around her. "How long do you reckon I have before Dad comes looking for me?" She asked watching the skies, expecting Toothless to swoop out of the clouds with her Dad at any minute. "I'd run, I would. I'd just keep going right now and not look back. But Berk is my home. And I love it." She slumped and sang softly
"I didn't mean to come here and I didn't mean to stay,
It's just where the sea wind blew me,
One accidental day,
It wasn't where I meant to be,
Wasn't where I had my start,
But now I'll never leave these rain soaked bogs,
Because Berk is where I left my heart." It was the Hooligan's national anthem and she found it fitted her fairly well. "Come on boy, we'll take a flight down to Badmist Island and then head home. I just need to clear my head a bit." Camicazi tugged her helmet from the saddle bags and went to pull it over her head. She'd just been readjusting herself for the flight when she first heard it. A familiar roar. But it was one of great distress and pain.
"Furious..." She muttered. She remembered her first meeting with the great dragon as if it was only yesterday.
It had been last summer, not long after her grandpa had died. She and Sparky had sought shelter in a cavern in a mountainside to wait out a great windy storm. She remembered hearing a voice in her head, a voice that was not hers. It hissed and spat, muttering and questioning
"Is this real, can this truly be the one I have come so far for? It cannot be." She'd called out, certain she was imagining things.
"You hear me in your head" It had stated simply
"And I don't like it! Get out!"
"It is my only way to communicate with something as thick as you." It sneered. She growled at it. "You'd be unwise to attack, I am far greater than you."
"A man is not measured in size for his greatness, but for his bravery, courage and compassion. Come out and face me!" She'd heard it shuffle but Sparky had leapt down and coiled around her, stretching his wings and growling defensively.
"He protects you?" She'd placed a hand on his head to soothe him
"As I would for him. But since you seem to be invading my thoughts, surely you can see that." She felt violated as her own memories flashed before her.
"You protect the dragons?"
"I am a Dragon Whisperer." She'd stated. "I live with my father, our chief who is also a Dragon Whisperer, and under the protection of his dragon, our Alpha."
"The Night Fury became an Alpha. Interesting..."
"How do you know Toothless?"
"That is not important right now." She'd heard something moving again. "What is important is knowing if you are the one I seek. Are you the one the fates tell of? Are you the one I must fight beside against my better judgment?"
"Fight with?" Then he'd blinked a huge yellow eye and lowered his huge head to look directly at her, his head was as long as she was tall, if not longer.
"There is a war that will threaten my kind and your way of life. The fates say I shall join forces with a most unusual human to win the war and save my kind. Only then can I fulfil my promise once and for all."
"What promise is that?" She'd asked, but she'd known even then she'd regret it.
"That I will never love, care for, protect, trust or help a human again." He growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"A dragon never breaks his promise."
"Indeed."
"My father says 'we cannot always keep our promises'"
"Your father, is human."
"Does not mean he's wrong." She spat back.
"Hmmm... It is you... How very odd."
"What's so odd about me?" She asked defensively.
"You are small, female with no apparent skills in leading armies or battle, who trains and protects dragons, and I see in your eyes you know our lullaby. You are a most unusual human, and even more unexpected for your fate."
"My fate?"
"You will play a part in shaping the futures of both my kind and your own, your way of life. Your very way of living, my very life may depend on your actions."
"That's a lot of expectation on me."
"You cannot cope with it perhaps."
"I was born for this. I'll do whatever it takes." She said determined.
"Then it seems I have found what I came for."
"So you came all this way to find me?"
"You see where I am from?" He'd asked surprised. She'd stared back into that eye and seen his mind open, his thoughts and memories flash before her.
"Yes. I see your home in the frozen North, your bitter past here in the archipelago, I see your betrayal, your pain, I see your story and your purpose... Furious."
She blinked away the memory. She'd made a promise to herself that day. She'd sworn that she would prevent any further harm coming to Furious. She'd not seen him since then, but he'd promised her would return.
"Change of plans boy. We're heading to the Isle of Doom. Furious needs us..."
They flew low over the jagged black lumps of rock and dark forests that were the Isle of Doom. The island was uninhabited by Vikings due to the fact that it was only accessible by ship one week of the year, and ships could only leave it for that week as well. It was only since the dragons they'd been able to explore it further. The dragons that lived there were as wild and untamed as the seas that surrounded it. Camicazi listened for the roar as she had Sparky set down on the island. As she dismounted she took only her staff.
"Go on ahead boy, I'll check around here, you go scour the mountains and I'll meet you at their base." She said, she knew he was reluctant by he did as she said anyway.
She searched through the forests, dealing calmly with every dragon she came across. She was subduing a Monstrous Nightmare when she first felt the familiar feeling of being watched. She picked up her staff and turned, crouching to the floor like some wild thing, keeping her visor down as her green eyes searched for movement. She found it. Shaking her staff so it rattled she ducked and scrambled up a tree as the Nightmare blasted fire into the trees. She then scrambled through the branches looking for the spy. Bronze armour plates, a strange helmet with a feathery brush atop it, sandals... "Roman" She hissed and she jumped down to run for Sparky.
She had to get him. She did not know how the Roman had gotten here, but even she was not such a fool as to take on a Roman, where there was one, there would be more. She heard Furious roar again and froze.
"Furious!" She gasped.
"Halt! You there!" Damn, she'd been seen! She began running for the mountains with ease, years of living beside dragons and training aiding her flight through the trees. But the Roman still followed her. She finally found herself at the base of the mountains, surrounded by dizzyingly high rocks, smooth enough that she couldn't scramble up them.
"I said stop!" The Roman yelled finally catching up, holding a rather broad wide sword up at her. She crouched again, placing her staff gently on the ground, her eyes watching him all the time. He couldn't be any older than Finn. "How did you get here Barbarian? We thought this place was uninhabited, so talk boy!"
"Boy!" She shrieked laughing, she'd left her skirt in the saddle bags. "Do not insult me in such a way Roman!" She laughed standing up and carefully removing her helmet, letting her blonde braid swing over her shoulder.
"You're a girl." The Roman said in surprise.
"Wrong again, I am not a girl. I am a storm with skin." There was a shriek and Sparky landed beside her, crackling with lightning. The Roman recoiled and her eyes glinted dangerously. "Now tell me Roman, what have your people done with the great dragon Furious?"
And I'm going to leave you hanging for a while I think. I'm actually pretty excited about the upcoming chapters. Feel free to ask about the new characters or suggest theories. But I may not be revealing anything!